Next Up - Sequoias!

When Addy's parents first started talking about a California vacation, the number one thing Addy wanted to do - even more than Disneyland - was visit the "tall trees", aka Sequoias.
 
So not-so-bright-nor-early the day after Disney, we headed out for Three Rivers and our cabin just outside of Sequoia National Park. I found the Buckeye Tree Lodge through TripAdvisor, which has never let me down recommendation-wise. 
See the top of the hill behind the tree on the right? That's the boundary for the national park. Can't get much closer!

The "roughing it" part of our "cabin" was the lack of cell service and inability to sign into the lodge's wifi signal - are you feeling sad for me yet?
  
The two-story, three bedroom, two bath, air-conditioned, full-kitchen cabin definitely made up for any perceived inconvenience (and none of us really missed the innernets, at least not after I was able to download a book using the ranger station's wifi.)
 
Friday we were up and out, headed up the mountain. The trees - and Addy's eyes - got progressively bigger the further we went.
The circle Addy's standing in is the same size and shape as the General Sherman tree; very impressive!

We spent most of our time in the area around the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree (by volume) in the world.
  
There were huge trees with burned out bases big enough for us to stand inside;
 
trees with one base and three gigantic trunks;
 
trees you could walk through, without ducking;
 
and more.
 
But the star of the show was definitely the General. 
 
You don't appreciate just how big the tree is until you realize that one of the branches, waaaaaay up in the air, is 13 FEET in diameter.  That's BIG!
 
One of the signs said the tree is no longer growing taller but is still growing in girth. 
  
It just keeps getting more impressive!
Addy getting sworn-in as a Junior Ranger. The ranger made a nice ceremony of it, putting on his hat and having Addy repeat the ranger oath. She was a bit embarrassed but the rest of us loved it!

We had plans to hike to a waterfall and Crystal Cave, but changed our minds when Mother Nature turned on the rain spigots. 
 
Addy doesn't like thunder and, at first, being outdoors in the storm upset her. 
 
But the rest of us treated it as no big deal - I love thunder storms - and she came around,
 
going so far as to hike with Pop and John halfway up Moro Rock
 
and posing in the rain at the Auto Log.
 
We finished the day with a barbecue on our patio, a dip in one of the two on-site pools, and a good night's sleep before heading back towards home and yet more adventures.